


gravity, release me

by Neptunia



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Infertility, Jealousy, M/M, Mating Bond, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mating Rituals, Possessive Behavior, Sarcasm, Self-Esteem Issues, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-07-08 05:53:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19864570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neptunia/pseuds/Neptunia
Summary: Its a terrifyingly gloomy morning when Lee Donghyuck awakes with a searing pain in his abdomen.He's on fire. Everything's on fire.





	1. A brief introduction to Lee Donghyuck

**Author's Note:**

> This is kind of like an intro, sorta? The stories mainly gonna be told from donghyucks POV. Enjoy! Its kinda short.
> 
> Also P.S. this is unbeta'd so please don't crucify me. I will try my best to not fuck up.

Donghyuck didn't particularly remember the whole thing very well. It honestly just felt like dying.

He's pretty sure he must have screamed or something. When someone is in that much pain, how could they not? All he remembers his mothers cold hands and her shrill voice screeching in utter panic, so with that thought, maybe he was really going to die. She always reassured him that there was no chance that he would have, but with the way everyone reacted to the situation he may as well have been on his death bed.

It was the day he presented. The literal shock in the eyes of everyone who knew him when he presented as an Omega was quite amusing to say the least. Now its not that Donghyuck pranced around acting like he had the biggest dick known to mankind or anything, he was just on the sassier, more sarcastic and blunter side. Which certainly did not make for a typical well-behaved Omega. He had enough sass to keep an entire legion of Alphas aghast and feeling utterly disrespected for a solid ten thousand years if he had to. People speculated that he'd be a Beta, maybe even an Alpha, a peculiar Alpha but it was seemingly way more likely than for him to present as an Omega.

The speculation from so-called 'friends' and extended family members rolled in like swarming cockroaches, entirely unwelcomed and entirely impossible to get rid of. Donghyuck didn't understand what all the fuss was about at the time. It made no sense. His destined mate would still love him no matter what, right? Mates were literally _made_ for each other. That's what everyone told him anyway. At least before this whole fiasco and then, just like that, they just never spoke of it again. Only serving him pitying looks with tight smiles and deadened eyes.

He remembers being in hospital for a long time, he was very 'sick' then. That's what they said, that he was _'sick'_. Like he had some entirely fixable disease. He supposes that it must be pretty difficult to tell a freshly presented 13 year old that their reproductive organs are out of whack. So he guesses he doesn't have much right to be angry. Its not like Donghyuck knew anything about that stuff at the time and it probably would have just confused him even more, but honestly he would've taken the confusion over the utterly slow and bitterly lonely realization any day.

Most people present around the age of 13, so just as Donghyuck had blossomed into an already wilted flower his classmates had pretty soon done the same and with all those new scents and discovering what exactly was actually supposed to smell like what, it was very quickly noted, by everyone(Donghyuck included) that Donghyuck smelled funny.

Funny as in, _definitely not how an Omega should smell_.

He smelled like cinnamon and burnt sugar, or so they say. Omegas aren't supposed to smell so strongly, apparently. They're supposed to smell like flowers or freshly cut grass or some other poetic shit, but definitely not like cinnamon or burnt sugar.

People would say that he was too fat and too big, too this, too that. He remembers the anger and the embarrassment and how he'd lash out, only for it to make things worse. Omegas don't lash out. Omegas don't challenge Alphas and break their noses in pure unchecked rage.

But he did. He did all those things and he smelled funny. This truly must be gods idea of a cruel joke. But despite that seemingly macho facade, Donghyuck remembers crying everyday when he'd get home. How easily his body would bruise and everything would just hurt for days. How heavy his bones had begun to feel, it was a tiredness he just couldn't sleep off.

Everything went numb for a while. It became routine, all the fights, the threats and punishments became as normal as breathing. His right hook was now solid and he's pretty fast now too.

Then, _and then_ , in amongst all this blinding chaos, his mother decided that enough was enough(which he certainly didn't disagree with). So she threw him into an art school of sorts and slapped him with some suppressants.

The idea made him nervous at first but honestly he was really glad to be without his heats, even if he did just smell like nothing now. The school itself wasn't solely an art school, much to his own disappointment, it functioned with both arts and academics. His mother, eternally proud of her decision, seemed to think this was the solution to all of his problems, an outlet and a fresh start where no one knew anything about him.

He wasn't a useless Omega anymore.. He's just Donghyuck that smells overwhelmingly like nothing.

He was quickly enrolled in dance and singing classes along with all of his regular subjects. Which leads us to the present day:

In which he is best friends with an unpresented, Absolute Moron™ by the name of Mark fucking Lee.


	2. Drunken Thoughts and Conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The most memorable night of Donghyucks entire senior year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took as long as it did. I wrote it and then I hated it, so I deleted it and wrote it again and still hated it but just edited the shit out of it and now its decent enough, sorta. Blegh. Ugh. Anywayyyy. I hope you enjoy it.

"You look like an idiot."

  
"Well that wouldn't be the case if someone was actually doing their job."

  
"You say that like I'm getting paid to do this crap. Trust me, if that were the case I'd do this whole thing myself-"

  
" _That is bullshit_ , and we both know it," Mark says, giving him a pointed look.

  
"You have a point," Donghyuck sighed out.

  
"Don't you care about your grades?"

  
"Of course I do," Donghyuck says, sounding slightly offended. "Just not this one."

  
Mark let's out a frustrated sigh and sends him an annoyed look before glaring at the mind numbing monstrosity in front of him.

  
"This is bullshit," Mark whispers mostly to himself. Its almost small enough for Donghyuck to take pity on the boy and start helping. Hes been working on this thing, whatever the fuck it is, for almost three hours now and honestly the slightly dejected look on Mark's face was beginning to tug on Donghyucks heart strings a bit. But unfortunately for Mark, they were quite swiftly running out of time. They had to meet Jaemin and the others in a half hour and this hunk of garbage was no where near where Mark's wishful thinking had planned it to be, even if Donghyuck had helped him it would still be terribly behind in production.

  
"Mark, just leave it. We'll finish it tonight, okay? I promise I'll help you later, but it takes twenty minutes to get to Jaemin's house and you haven't even showered yet and its giving me anxiety," Donghyuck said dramatically.

  
Mark peered up at him from the floor and narrowed his eyes suspiciously before releasing a heavy sigh, throwing his head back and bringing his hand up to rub his eyes.

  
"You promise? You promise to actually help me this time?"

  
"Yes, I swear on my own two God given eyeballs that I will make myself useful. Just please go take a shower. The last thing we need is to show up at Jaemin's with you smelling like ass."

  
"I don't even smell-"

  
"You spent _three hours_ in the dance room this afternoon and haven't even been near a bar of soap since. Go take a shower before I lock you outside and hose you down myself."

  
"Fine," Mark grumbles, mostly to himself, "why are we even celebrating graduation this early anyway?"

  
Donghyuck closed his eyes and yawned.

  
"We all mutually agreed that it would be too difficult to do it after finals remember? Since Injunnie is leaving like literally the day he writes his last exam and Chenle and Jisung are going away with Chenle's family?"

  
"Oh, right," Mark said, voice barely a whisper, an almost sobered up realization dawning across his face.

  
That particular discussion had left a bitter taste in all of their mouths. It wasn't like they were never going to see each other again or anything like that, but college gets rough, and the looming possibility of them all drifting was noticeably present and scared the living shit out of every single one of them. Maybe with the slight exception of Jeno and Jaemin, they're mates, so they at least had each other but the rest of them just had to have faith in the strength of their friendship to pull them through the inevitable friendship draught.

  
Donghyuck heard the subtle click of the bathroom door which was followed by the sound of shower turning on and breathed a sigh of relief.

  
_'Thank God...'_

  
To be honest, he didn't really feel like going out either. The warmth and softness of his own bed was so deliciously comfortable that it took all of his will power not to purr at the feeling. All the sleepless nights spent at dance or leaning over desk cramming his brain full of useless information had been nothing short of traumatic for the Omega in him and all he really wanted right now was to just vegetate where he sat and hopefully get Mark to cuddle him.

  
"As if..." Donghyuck snorted to himself.

  
Cuddling in general was a greatly underappreciated activity in Donghyucks opinion, but cuddling with Mark did some real wonders for his stress levels. He's not sure why exactly, nor would he ever admit it out loud, but it just managed to make all of his limbs and his usually overly active brain turn to nothing but mush. The human personification of a blob fish, essentially. It was just getting Mark to actually agree that was the hard part.

  
Mark had always been like that, just the question was enough to send him into some kind of panic. Actually with the way he reacts you'd swear Donghyuck had just asked him to drink out of a toilet. He's always been a bit skittish about physical contact for some reason, even though Donghyuck could tell how much he enjoyed it most of the time and even seems to look a little distressed when Donghyuck _doesn't_ initiate any physical contact.

  
No matter how much the boy complained, all the signs just seemed to be there. Mark always falls asleep before him, wakes up after him and will spend a whole five minutes grumbling utter nonsense if their originally unwanted and so viciously fought against cuddle session was disturbed by anything or anyone. But alas, all he could do was hope that one day Mark Lee's one brain cell would miraculously spawn a copy of itself to further his brain power so Donghyuck could be relieved of his suffering.

  
The abrupt sound of the bathroom door opening was enough to knock Donghyuck from his hazed thoughts and caused to him to look around the room, vaguely glancing in the direction of the clock before nearly falling off the bed in haste.

_'Shit, we're gonna be late.'_

ㅇ

Jaemin's place always felt like home for some reason.

  
The Alpha just radiated this warmth that melted right into his bones. He's probably the first and only Alpha Donghyuck had ever actually liked. He even had a crush on him about two years back. It was just a small crush that ended as soon as everyone found out that Jeno and Jaemin were destined mates and even though he was slightly disappointed and jealous at the time, he honestly couldn't think of a better fit for Jaemin even if he tried. Jeno grounded Jaemin in a way that no one else could and once they marked each other the effect got even stronger. If he were being honest, Donghyuck would always be a little jealous of Jeno. The boy smells like grapefruit and oranges for Christ's sake.

  
_'And nothing beats the smell of citrus,'_ thought Donghyuck to himself as he lazily gazed up at Jaemin's ceiling.

  
Lee Jeno, although not a textbook description of an Omega, was pretty much perfect. His eye-smile was disarming, kind and utterly gentle despite his seemingly strong, sturdy physique. Jeno was the first friend he'd made after moving schools. The late blooming Omega had welcomed him with a cheap candy bar and a slightly nervous smile. A stark contrast to his current outrageously confident demeanor.

  
"Hey Hyuck, don't you want a turn?" Asks Chenle from the sofa effectively shutting down his train of thought.

  
"Yeah, we've literally skipped you twice, hyung. What's up? Did your last braincell finally lose the war? " Jisung chimes in with a sarcastic drawl and Donghyuck let's out a long sigh.

  
_'Where the fuck is Injunnie?'_

  
"Jisung, I am, and always will be the Mario Kart King. So you can just shove-"

  
"Oi, stop attacking the children," Jaemin calls from the kitchen.

  
"The _'children'_ were disrespecting me," Donghyuck shoots back from his spot on the sofa.

  
He hears what could only be a stifled laugh come from the kitchen. From whom it came, Jeno or Jaemin, he could not tell, but it did not make him any less ready to roast them both.

  
"They're right though, Hyuck. You've been pretty quiet since you got here," Jeno says before Donghyuck can get a word out as he pops his head into the doorway, before pausing and dropping his head to the side slightly, "Mark too, actually. The both of you have just been staring into space."

  
The inquiring statement made Donghyuck pause for a second, if not only to take a quick glance at Mark who had seemingly become vaguely aware of his surroundings at the mention of his own name and was now gazing at Donghyuck with an utterly confused and mildly alarmed expression.

  
_'Cute.'_

  
"I think we're just a little tired. All the assignments have been mildly exhausting to say the least," Donghyuck answers smoothly.

"Especially when your partner leaves you to do all the work," Mark grumbles under his breath, seeming to have come to some kind of realization as to what they're talking about. Donghyuck can't help but crack a cheeky smile and Mark, much to his own disdain from the looks of it, cracks one of his own right back.

  
"You guys can't be tired now," Chenle interjects, "you literally just got here and Jaemin got so much booze-"

  
"No drinking until Renjun gets here," Jaemin piped in sternly, effectively silencing the overly excited Chenle.

  
"Hyuck and I probably shouldn't drink anyway. We still need to work on our science assignment when we get back," Mark pipes in nonchalantly only to be met with a round of tense silence.

  
_'Here we go...'_

  
The statement seemed to spark some commotion, just as Donghyuck had thought it would, as Jeno and Chenle had their mouths hanging open in utter despair, looking between Donghyuck and Jaemin in a silent plea for one of them to do something about the newly presented crisis.

  
" _Oh c'mon Mark_ , one drink isn't gonna kill you," drawls Jaemin suddenly, taking it upon himself to convince Mark otherwise as he steps closer to Marks position on the sofa before sitting down in Marks lap, "You have the whole weekend to do that stupid thing. Just relax and spend some time with us. We barely see you or Hyuckie anymore because of how busy things are and we miss you so so so so _soooooo_ -"

  
"Okay, okay. Fine. But I'm only having one drink and that's it," Mark states in a contradicting tone of both defeat and conviction before settling his gaze on Donghyuck, sending him a weak look.

ㅇ

_'So much for one drink.'_

  
To say Mark was completely plastered would be the biggest understatement of the fucking century and there's _no way in hell_ Donghyuck could take him home like this and have him expose them both with his drunken antics. He's pretty sure his parents would, quite literally, smite him down if they found out he'd been drinking so close to finals.

  
" _Hyuckiiieee_ ," Mark slurred from beside him in the passengers seat of his own car. His voice taking on a whining tone.

  
"Hm?" Donghyuck hummed back dully.

  
"Hm," Mark parroted lamely. Mark had been doing this, _'this'_ being calling him 'Hyuckie' until he answers and simply repeating whatever he answers with in a much more slurred and drowsy tone, and mumbling incoherently since Donghyuck managed to get him to the car. The boy was pretty much half dead and Donghyuck could only wince in sympathy at the hangover his best friend would most likely have to face in the morning.

  
Mark hadn't really kept his word on the 'one drink' thing from the beginning and ended up settling more for being mildly tipsy, which was quite pleasant actually. Its not often you get to see Mark not stressing about very inconsequential things. That was until a much drunker Jaemin stood up and challenged Mark to a round of shots in the most Alpha way Donghyuck had ever seen of Jaemin, even Renjun looked visibly shocked and confused. Jisung did the honor of pouring the drinks and thus the evening turned to utter chaos. Donghyuck on the other hand was quite painfully sober for the entire duration of the evening and probably for the first time ever, it was Donghyuck who had to lug a ridiculously drunk Mark home instead of the other way around. The feeling was quite a strange one and he doesn't think he's ever seen Mark this drunk. The man can barely walk.

  
"You're a Beta, right Hyuckie?" Marks drawls in suddenly.

  
"Yes," Donghyuck answers calmly.

  
He then takes a second to glance at Mark, only to find him staring at Donghyuck's face with a blissful grin. He let's out a little hum of satisfaction, closing his eyes before mumbling, "What's that like? Being a Beta? You don't really act like one, Hyuckie. You're waaaaaay too moody and touchy."

  
Donghyuck takes a deep breath before glancing at him again. He's had this conversation at least three times with a starstruck looking, drunk-off-his-ass Mark, it was like his drunken conversation go-to for some reason and it always revealed a set of deeper desires his best friend had never dared to say out loud, making Donghyuck feel strangely compelled to answer him as truthfully as he could, despite his best friends obvious drunkenness.

  
"Its annoying, I suppose. I kinda wish that I was just nothing, ya know? It would be so mucheasier that way... It just wouldn't hurt so much," Donghyuck confesses choppily, voice barely above a whisper with foreign words slipping off his tongue in an awkward fashion, as they usually do, and he's pretty sure Mark didn't hear it, as usual too.

  
"And stop calling me Hyuckie, that's a terrible nickname," Donghyuck says a little snappily after clearing his throat, trying his best to clear the air as well.

  
"I hope I present as a Beta," Mark whispers dreamily, clearly unbothered by Donghyucks very visible turmoil, eyes still closed and leaning into the car seat like it was the most comfortable thing he'd ever sat on. Donghyuck raised a questioning brow at his best friend but trying to get any explanation out of a drunken, giddy Mark was a horribly difficult task, so he settles on just trying to keep him awake and not thinking much of it.

  
"Hey," Donghyuck says as he reaches out his hand and pokes Mark in the ribs while trying to keep his eyes on the road, "no falling asleep. We're almost home and my noodle arms won't be able to carry you into the house."

  
Donghyuck turns back to the road without waiting for Marks reaction, speeding up a little. There's also not much you can do from stopping a drunken, giddy Mark from taking a nap. Especially not while you're driving anyway, all he could do was get home as quickly as possible and drag the drunk boy out of the car before he could catch a glimpse of sleep.

  
"Hyuckie," Mark drawls out almost incomprehensibly.

  
"Its still a terrible nickname," Donghyuck says blankly.

  
"What do you think your mate is like? Betas usually only get Beta mates, right?" Mark asks quietly, once again seemingly unbothered by Donghyuck's lack of enthusiasm and now surprised expression.

  
"I don't know," Donghyuck lies in a mild panic, his voice wavering a bit, "I haven't thought about it."

  
Actually the subject of mates is one that consumes his thoughts almost all the time and it had always been a conflicting one for Donghyuck. Although times had changed for the better, an infertile Omega is still an infertile Omega and in the eyes of the vast majority of people, that was a pretty useless Omega. The idea that one day he'd meet his mate and be nothing but a disappointment or a burden in their eyes always left him feeling sick to his stomach. It was a kind of mixture of dread, disgust and grief so strong that he felt like he could easily just puke it up. Being a mateless 'Beta' for the rest of his days honestly would be a much better and less terrifying option.

  
Mark let's out an exaggerated gasp at his words and tries but completely fails to put himself into an upright position.

  
"Hyuckie, how could you have not thought about it?! Like... Like... That's your person. Like your only person," Mark states, looking both visibly disturbed and distressed at Donghyuck's words as he flops back down into the seat staring up at Donghyuck again but this time with an expectant and foggy look in his eyes. It made his stomach sink a little. Even though Mark was drunk and obviously a complete hopeless romantic, even Hyuck could taste the bitterness in his own mouth. He turns back to the road in an effort to get his emotions under control.

  
'My god, this is the worst time of the month for this shit...'

  
He waits a bit and lets himself breathe before swallowing thickly and turning back to Mark, only to see that the drunk boy had taken to resting his head against the glass window, trying his very best to fight off the ever persistent urge to sleep, conversation seemingly forgotten and has continued his incoherent mumblings. As he glances at the boys clearly drunk form, Donghyuck is slapped back into reality.

  
_'Mark is drunk,'_ Donghyuck realizes and reminds himself in frustration over the fact that he's getting worked up and emotional about a conversation that wasn't even going to be remembered in the morning. The realization felt harsh for some reason, cold even. The sinking feeling sunk a little deeper and an emptiness settled over his being like a thick fog 

  
"You really are just a big idiot," Donghyuck says softly, his hands loosening their grip on the steering wheel as the car falls into silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I accept constructive criticism wholeheartedly.😁
> 
> There's gonna be a bit of a time skip because even though I'm fresh out of high school, I just didn't feel comfortable doing a smut scene with high schoolers so the setting is gonna be in college rather. For some reason this particular chapter just felt important to add.


	3. those warm fuzzy feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a nice calm before the storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No matter how much I write I always feel like I'm being too vague and it bugs me. I had to split this chapter up though❤ otherwise it would have been ridiculously long, I hope you enjoy the mild fluff despite how boring it is.
> 
> **Scent tracking is basically a form a stalking, that is a rising problem in this AU, but isn't really relevant in this story.

The best thing about getting accepted into the same college as Mark was getting to actually stay in an apartment(with his best friend no less) instead of staying in the dorms. Marks parents were fairly well off and had insisted that Mark stay in his own place during his college years, and who better to room with him and split the rent none other than his most cherished and beloved best friend?

  
Needless to say the relief Donghyuck felt was enormous, not only were there the constant tales of the genuine horrors that was staying in the dorms, but the dorms were also separated by secondary gender and the last thing Donghyuck wanted was to be exposed and have to deal with the backlash of all his carefully constructed lies over the years. What a waste it would be if all that was for nought. It was either that or fork out a fuck ton of money for his own place that would probably leave him broke.

  
He and Mark had moved in about two months ago and had started classes about a week after moving in. The transition was smooth at first, comfortable even but over time things had begun to take their toll and saying that it was 'rough' would do their current situation absolutely no justice. If Mark and Donghyuck ever saw each other outside of their now shared living space it would either be because they had to have planned to do so or it was just in brief passing. The whole thing was stressing Donghyuck out. He pretty much spends any alone time he has trying to spread Marks scent around the apartment in order to comfort himself, but nothing seemed to be overcoming the anxiety he felt about the change. He wasn't expecting things to become so strained so fast, but then again it might just be him.

  
Because Mark on the other hand seemed to be doing just fine, he'd even made some new friends, who were actually really nice, much to Donghyuck's dismay in all his pangs of jealousy. Yukhei, Jaehyun and Johnny were probably the most laid back group of Alphas Donghyuck had ever met and Mark seemed to be fitting quite snugly into their friendship circle in the short time that he'd known them. And even though they had never once intentionally tried to make him feel excluded, he just did. The whole situation was putting him on edge and he hated himself for it. Donghyuck had made no friends other than passing acquaintances he happened to have spoken to once or twice for completely random or impersonal reasons, not that he'd ever let Mark know. The boy would turn into a giant stress ball and would probably start pestering him about it on a regular basis.

  
The stares didn't help his uneasiness either, Donghyucks very obvious 'not Beta' behavior seemed to be under constant scrutiny whenever Marks new friends would come over. He saw the way they would stare when he got touchy or express any of his strange homey habits and he's pretty sure they knew far more about typical secondary gender behaviors than poor oblivious Mark did. It had only been a month and a bit and it felt like his life was already taking a nosedive off the top of a building.

  
Donghyuck raised an exhausted arm up to wipe the sweat from his upper lip. As he laid on the floor of the university's dance practice room he closed his eyes in contemplation. It was extremely late in the evening, almost midnight actually, so technically he shouldn't be in here but he needed to get some energy out before returning to his apartment which was currently filled to the brim with really smelly Alphas who were ruining Donghyucks efforts at keeping the place smelling like Mark and Mark alone.

  
He should probably leave soon, he grimaced at the thought, he wasn't really sure what punishment would await him for using the practice rooms way past their closing time and he wasn't all that keen on finding out. So with that he hauled himself up off the floor, sighing as his muscles ached in protest. All of his limbs felt like lead.

  
He walked over to his gym bag which he had so carelessly tossed against the wall and leant down to pick it up, hauling the strap onto his shoulder and made his way toward the exit of the practice room. The cold night air against his over heated skin was a heaven sent gift from the gods and the feeling of the slight breeze through his hair as he walked to his car made him realize just how tired he actually was.

  
"Hey there, what're you doing out so late?" Suddenly came a familiar voice from behind him. "Donghyuck, right?"

  
He turned around and was met with the face of one of his few acquaintances, Yeri. Yeri is quite a very friendly Alpha and from what he remembers she's pretty good friends with Momo and Tzuyu, all of them being at least three years older than himself but they never seemed to care about age when interacting with anyone.

  
"Yeah," he says, confirming her question adding on a polite smile, "Yeri, right?"

  
She nods and smiles back at him before breaking into a slight jog to catch up with him, her smile turning slightly mischievous. "You didn't answer my question."

  
_'Oh right.'_

  
"Oh, I was just practicing some choreography up in the dance room," He replies honestly, his hand coming up to brush his bangs from his face.

  
"You do know its like 12am on a weekend, right? You really didn't have anything else to do?" She asks in a teasing tone with a beaming grin and a laugh.

  
"Not really," Donghyuck answers sheepishly. "My roommate has a bunch of friends over and they can get pretty rowdy soo..."

  
"Ohhhhh," she says with a thoughtful look on her face while looking him up and down as if she were contemplating something before sniffing the air and suddenly exclaiming, "Well, if you don't have any friends yet, you should come hang out with me and my friends! You're a Beta, right? Sorry if I'm mistaken, I can barely smell you. Those must be some strong suppressants, man. Are you, like, paranoid or something?"

  
"Yeah, I'm a Beta," Donghyuck lies easily, not bothering to correct her in regards to his friends. He adds in a laugh for good measure and runs his hands through his hair. "And I guess you could say I'm a little paranoid too. Scent tracking is a thing, you know."

  
"Interesting," she says with curiosity slipping into her tone, "So you down to hang out next week? We're having a party over at Chan's and people are always happy to see newcomers, _especially_ cute ones."

  
The comment made in such nonchalance almost sent Donghyuck to his grave out of shock and the look must have shown on his face because Yeri packed out laughing as Donghyuck sputtered about like a fish.

  
"Not used to receiving compliments?" She asks with a Cheshire cat like grin on her face, looking calm as ever.

  
_'is she flirting..?'_

  
"Can't say that they happen to come my way very often," Donghyuck answers as a flustered smile creeps onto his face. To say that he wasn't flattered at all would be a flat out lie, in fact he found his heart jumping a bit at the small compliment, it was quite overpowering. Overpowering enough for him to ignore the lingering feeling of wrongness in regards to the situation.

  
"No way, you're kidding right?" She says in what sounded like genuine disbelief, eyes widening in shock as he shook his head at her question. "Donghyuck, you're gorgeous. How is that even possible?"

  
Donghyuck's face is on fire. He's pretty sure his face resembles that of a tomato at this point. No one had ever called him cute, never mind gorgeous. His friends all told him he has handsome sure but that was different. They were kind of obligated to give him an ego boost every now and then. All of his insides felt warm and fuzzy right now, and it took all of his will power not to preen at the attention he was currently being given, the kind he'd always craved. Yeri was looking at him with something akin to adoration, almost like Mark would when he was drunk and spouting complete nonsense. It was... nice.

  
But it didn't feel right.

  
"Ah shit, I need to get home soon," Yeri says in a disappointed tone while looking down at her watch before looking up at him with a questioning look, "Do you need a ride back?"

  
"Ah no, its fine," he says a little rushed, delayed by his thoughts. "My car is in the parking lot, thanks for the offer though."

  
"Its no problem," Yeri says warmly before placing a hand his shoulder, close enough to his neck to trace her thumb over it. "I'll track you down on Monday to get your number, but for now I really have to go. If you need anything you know where to find me, yeah?"

  
And just like that, without even waiting for his reply, Yeri pretty much took off in the direction of the Alpha dorm.

  
_'She must really be in a hurry,'_ Donghyuck thought to himself as he watched her retreating form. After she vanished from sight he continued the walk to the parking lot, quickening his pace as he got to closer to it. Once he reached his car Donghyuck threw his gym bag in the trunk, hopped into the drivers seat and started it. 

  
As he reversed out he allowed a blank haze to settle over his mind as a feeling of dread pooled in his chest.

ㅇ

The measly five minute drive home did nothing to help his mood. In fact, all it had done was make him even more drowsy than he was before and thus making him three thousand times more annoyed. He retrieved his bag from the trunk and managed to haul it up the stairs and eventually came to stand outside his apartment door, he could hear a faint mixture of voices. One of them was unmistakably Yukhei's, emitting a loud rough laugh at something another voice had said. It almost made Donghyuck smile, almost. They may smell, but there was something inherently loveable in those fools.

  
Donghyuck braced himself to step into his and Marks shared apartment by inhaling deeply before putting his hand on the door handle, gently pushing it open. He was met with the sight of Marks friends all sitting in the living room in haphazard positions surrounded a large number of empty pizza boxes(probably courtesy of Johnny and Yukhei) and it stank horrendously of Alpha. Donghyuck wouldn't be surprised if the smell had seeped into the walls with how downright pungent it was. Of course he knew, that if they knew he was an Omega they'd tone it down, but because of his Beta status they weren't so considerate of his sensitivity to the smell.

  
_'My god, you think they'd at least open a window or something..'_

  
"Oh hey Hyuck!" Exclaims Johnny as he excitedly jumps up from the sofa to greet him. In amongst the chorus of greetings that follow Johnny's own, the faint sound of a thud coming from Mark's bedroom can be heard along with some incoherent mumblings.

  
"Hey Johnn-" Donghyuck meekly replies back before he's pulled into a bone crushing by the ridiculously tall Alpha, who leans down a little to whisper in his ear with a laugh. "Thank god you're back. If you had taken any longer I think Mark would have actually just died."

  
And as if on cue, a slightly frazzled, wide eyed looking Mark appears out of the doorway of his bedroom just in time to see Johnny release him from the hug, but not without sniffing Donghyuck a little first, "Hyuck, where have you been? I called you like six times. You scared the _shit_ out of me."

  
The look on Marks face brings a stiff jab of sadness to Donghyucks chest and he can almost feel himself physically recoil. He never meant to make him worry. Anxiety began to pool in his gut as he tried to explain himself, "Sorry, I just needed some more practice on one of my dances so I decided to stay a little longer. I didn't have my phone with me either-"

  
"Ooooooohhhhhhh," Johnny pipes in, obviously attempting to lighten the mood, eyes crinkling mischievously in some sort of mock realization, staring at his neck. "You sure that's all you did, Hyuckie?"

  
Both Donghyuck and Mark turn to look Johnny with questioning looks before he winks at Donghyuck and slaps his hand on his shoulder. "I'm pretty sure I smelled some Alpha on you riiiiiight here."

  
Donghyucks eyes widened in mortification as he realized what Johnny was implying and from the corner of his eye he could see Marks eyes widen as the rest of his face stayed carefully blank, Yukhei and Jaehyun roared with laughter in the background before Yukhei managed catch his breath and blurt out a comment. "This early in the year, Hyuckie? Man you really don't waste time, huh?"

  
_'That fucking nickname.'_

  
"I swear, she just patted my shoulder-"

  
"Relax, Hyuck," Jaehyun interjected smoothly, obviously sensing his distress and sending him a reassuring smile. "We're just kidding. The scent is way too faint for us to know anyway."

  
"Yeah and Hyuck isn't really the type to mess around like that," Mark says with a tight but slightly relieved looking smile.

  
"Aww there's nothing wrong with having a bit of fun, Mark!" Says Yukhei in a jovial voice, intending to loosen up Marks stiff views but Marks doesn't answer and instead rolls his eyes as he turns back to Donghyuck, "We were just about to start watching a movie, you wanna join?"

  
Donghyuck takes a moment to look his awkward best friend over real quick, he's pretty sure Mark has grown a couple of inches since the beginning of the year and his once scrawny frame was beginning to fill out quite nicely. Mark had gone from looking like a cute baby lion to what one would typically describe as _'hot'_ fairly quickly and Donghyuck was pretty sure the only thing stopping Marks love life from flourishing despite his unpresented status was his overbearingly tight schedule. His new friendship circle didn't help the look either, all it did was add to his fuck boy looking persona. But Mark was a still dweeb, a big googly eyed dweeb and even the new found macho look did nothing to clear his face of its natural boyishness. A gentle smile paints his face as a feeling of fondness washes over him at the thought and Mark seems to visibly soften. "Hell yeah. Just let me take a shower and I'll be right there."

  
Mark nods and Donghyuck wastes no time walking to his own bedroom in quick strides, making sure not to step on any of the garbage that had been carelessly strewn about the floor(that had not been there this morning, might he add) before opening his bedroom door and quickly stepping inside. He relieves himself of his gym bag and car keys and quickly grabs himself a towel before heading to the bathroom.

  
He was still covered in sweat from the hours of dancing and quite frankly, he felt absolutely disgusting. He made his way to the bathroom and shut the door as he entered, placing his towel next to the sink as he pulled off his shirt, sweat pants and socks before stepping into the shower, adjusting the temperature of the water to his liking.

  
The shower was a holy place at this point. Plagued with nothing but the smell of his lemon and honey scented body wash helped to cleanse his nose of the hell he'd had to endure in the living room. He was definitely opening a window once he was done showering. He squirted shampoo into the palm of his hand and gently massaged it into his scalp before placing his head directly under the water, allowing the suds to drip down his back. He repeated the process with his conditioner and made quick work of washing his face before stepping out of the shower and into the steam filled bathroom.

  
He grabbed a towel from the railing and dried himself off before going back into his bedroom and pulling on some baggy pajamas. He stepped out of his bedroom and closed the door behind him. The first thing he noted was that the smell in the air had significantly improved since he'd last been there. He pretty sure someone had noticed the uncontrolled look of disgust that had overtaken his face when he walked in and had decided to finally open some windows.

  
"Better?" laughed Johnny from his spot on the sofa next to Jaehyun. The alpha always seemed to have a curious look on his face.

  
_'God bless this man.'_

  
"So you noticed?" Donghyuck laughed back as he made his way over to Mark and plopped himself down next to him.

  
"Was kinda hard not to," Johnny replies laughing again, "In all my weeks of knowing you, I don't think I've seen you look so visibly disgusted."

  
"Yeah, sorry about that," Yukhei says with an apologetic grin on his face. "It must have been pretty bad if you as a Beta could pick up on it that much."

  
Donghyuck tries his best not to tense at the comment and instead takes to casually laying his head in Marks lap. "Nah, its okay. I'm just not used to strong smells. So I guess my nose is probably a little more sensitive than most."

  
Johnny smiles in response and begins to say something about the movie he'd picked out to Jaehyun who seemed to only be vaguely interested in what the giant Alpha had to say.

  
"Was it really that bad?" Mark suddenly whispers down to him as he begins to gently thread his fingers through Donghyucks damp hair. The urge to purr is terrifyingly strong as Donghyuck closes his eyes in carefully restrained bliss.

  
"Yes," Donghyuck answers back simply. "It was like walking into a junk yard."

  
Mark giggles in response, leaving a gap of silence before leaning over him slightly and timidly asking, "How've you been? You've been pretty busy lately..."

  
The tone in Marks voice makes Donghyuck want to look at him but he stays still, keeping his eyes closed. He wants to tell Mark that he's missed the shit out of him and that this whole university thing was stupid and that he feels sad and stupid.

  
"I've been okay, just a little stressed out is all," he mumbles back, his voice sounding unavoidably detached. His depression settling over him like a cloud

  
"You know I'm here for you, right?"

  
"Yeah, I know," Donghyuck says blankly. In the back of his mind he was always aware that Mark would always be there but sometimes he couldn't really help himself. Donghyuck didn't really want any new friends, Mark and the others were enough. The fact that Mark obviously didn't seem to feel the same way felt like a kick to the stomach, leaving him feeling confused and a little winded. However, thinking about the situation rationally Donghyuck had to acknowledge that it was quite... normal. Its not like Mark was going to stay an antisocial hermit and never speak a word to anyone other than Donghyuck for the rest of his life, so he had no right to feel this betrayed and jealous over something as dumb as Mark making some new friends, and the realization of the irrationality of his behavior didn't make what he was feeling hurt any less. He just felt utterly gutted. He quietly reaches his hand up to lightly intertwine it with the hand Mark has in his hair before gently changing the subject. "How about you? What have you been up to?"

  
"Nothing much," Mark replies, sound mildly relieved that the conversation was continuing. "I met Johnny's mate. His name is Ten-"

  
"Wait, hold up like _the_ Ten?" Donghyuck asks, his eyebrows raising in surprise as he resists the urge to turn around and face Mark.

  
" _The_... Ten?" Mark repeats carefully.

  
"Oh my god, Mark, he's only like one of the best dancers our school has," Donghyuck whisper yells at Mark, feeling a mild excitement come over him, "and word on the street is that he's _gorgeous-_ "

  
" _And taken_ ," Johnny pipes in jokingly from his spot on the couch sending everyone in the room into a fit of laughter. Donghyuck included. The slight possessive undertones in Johnny's voice didn't go unnoticed by anyone but only served to make his comment even more humorous.

  
"Anyway," Mark continues, voice returning to its hushed tone as Johnny turns on the movie. "Other than that, it's just been classes and stuff. Nothing too exciting."

  
"Hmm," Donghyuck hums back with a smile. He can feel Mark shift slightly, probably thinking of something else to say to fill up the silence.

  
"Do you wanna do something this weekend?" Mark asks timidly.

  
"What do you have in mind?" Donghyuck mumbles back, smiling slightly.

  
"The theatre kids are doing a show next weekend and pretty sure there's tickets left..."

  
"Just you and me?" Donghyuck croaks out, his voice sounding grainy in his tired state. He can feel a swell of hope in his chest as Marks hand squeezes his own.

"Yep, just you and me," Mark parrots gently as Donghyuck surrenders himself to a state of unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare yourselves for some drama.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like this first chapter. I always get nervous about posting my writings. I've just been really inspired to explore more intimate avenues of writing lately. So I hope this isn't a complete bust.❤


End file.
